TL/Editor: raei
Status: 5/week mon-fri
Illustrations: none
Join the discord! Here
"Let's have a talk."
After sending Elia out, the Emperor t privately with Ian.
"Wizard Ian. About my illness..."
"That would be Wizard Forendal's work."
"!"
The Emperor was impressed by Ian's sharp observation.
Forendal had ntioned it several tis.
Ian was qualitatively different from those cheap frauds who picked up a few magic words and pretended to be wizards.
He was an orthodox wizard who had properly studied magic under Wizard Eredith!
Though this must have been his first ti seeing such magic, Ian already understood its principles.
"Hah. Young people are fearso."
Forendal smiled.
Though they say it's a senior's fate to eventually be surpassed by junior disciples, experiencing it firsthand felt strange.
Ian's skill was comparable to Forendal's.
No, in so areas Ian was likely far superior to Forendal.
"Your Majesty."
"...Yes. I ordered it."
As expected, though anticipated.
The evil energy lingering around the Emperor had been created by Forendal.
Ian thought for a mont.
Why would they do such a thing?
The Emperor had been cosplaying as a patient.
He'd openly received bloodletting treatnts and spread rumors everywhere about being deathly ill.
The reason the Emperor needed to be sick...?
"Is there soone you don't want to et?"
Ian briefly recalled his modern mories.
In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, didn't the Chancellor of the Cao family refuse visitors daily to avoid eting a red-faced man...
That was the only intuitive reason Ian could think of for the Emperor to fake illness.
And that guess was correct.
"I don't want to burden a wizard with troubleso talk."
When the Emperor hesitated, Ian said:
"Perhaps it's sothing I need to hear."
"It'll be political talk. Are wizards interested in politics?"
The Emperor thought Ian was like other wizards who wandered in search of mystery.
That assessnt was half correct.
While Ian did seek mystery, he also wanted to resolve Maria's situation.
"Though I am a wizard who wanders seeking mystery, I have so political concerns of my own."
"Ho. A wizard's political concerns. Now I'm curious."
Forendal went outside and carefully guarded the door.
No one should know what transpired in the Emperor's bedroom.
Having already had his secret exposed, the Emperor decided to seek Ian's wisdom instead.
Ian was Forendal's university colleague and his daughter Elia's friend.
He barely qualified as soone to confide in.
"Duke Fargar is currently crushing the Rashin Kingdom."
"I've heard the rumors."
Ian knew all too well how things were going in the empire's south.
Duke Fargar had 'coincidentally' found a survivor of House Silverwind.
He'd started a war to restore the title to Silverwind's rightful heir.
Silverwind's old territory had been split and occupied by the Rashin Kingdom and Duke Roxlan.
Could a re duke invade a nation called a kingdom? One might wonder.
But imperial dukes were dukes in na only - their power rivaled foreign kings.
The Rashin Kingdom in particular was an ethnic minority state holding unnecessarily vast territory.
As the vast territory suggested, most of Rashin Kingdom's land was wasteland.
Historically, the Rashin Kingdom had been... the Desert Empire's punching bag.
Wedged between the Holy Empire above and the Desert Empire below, the Rashin Kingdom was a weak nation.
When Duke Fargar deliberately drew his sword, the Rashin Kingdom was being pushed back without offering proper resistance.
"I heard fertile land is rare in the Rashin Kingdom. It's strange they'd give up Silverwind's land so easily."
"They haven't given up."
The Emperor rested his chin in his hand and said:
"They know Duke Fargar won't stop here."
It ant that even after crushing the Rashin Kingdom, the Duke's sword wouldn't return to its sheath.
Let's say the Duke completely drove out Rashin.
Would he just say 'Well that was fun~' and quietly go ho?
He'd say 'Hey everyone! We haven't found all of Silverwind's land yet!' and keep fighting!
This wasn't sothing the Duke could decide on his own.
He had already hired nurous rcenaries and called his vassals to arms.
War was fundantally a business.
Stories about fighting evil enemies~ mostly appeared only in storybooks.
The purpose of war was ultimately money, and thus many nations waged war like running a business.
Not just in this dieval fantasy world, but on Earth too, war was business.
Until when?
Until right before World War I.
Until WWI, wars were 'honorable' fights with clear winners and losers.
So commanders showed each other courtesy, and crazy things like allowing first strikes weren't uncommon.
To them, war was business and work.
But the weapons of mass slaughter that appeared in WWI changed the concept of war.
The traditional battlefield where you subdued enemies and enjoyed glory...
Beca a killing field where everyone who jumped in died.
In other words, in this dieval fantasy world, war was still considered 'good if you win.'
The horrors of war? Its futility?
Only weaklings felt such things!
A truly brave knight should crush all enemies and collect treasures!
It was an incredibly naive concept of war, ignorant of machine guns, tanks, and poison gas...
"Fargar will inevitably clash with Roxlan."
Fargar's warriors were hungry for victory.
With victory would co land, won, and livestock!
By now Ian could understand.
The claim about returning land to Silverwind's heir was really just an excuse.
What Fargar truly wanted was Roxlan's land.
"Have you ordered them to stop the war?"
Ian asked the Emperor.
The Emperor was master of the empire.
The chairman of the imperial apartnt complex ordered his tenants 'Stop fighting!'
And the result!
"I did. Long ago."
"...They ignored you."
A completely unsurprising dismissal!
They were imperial dukes.
They were madn who'd only follow the Emperor's orders if they had reason to.
I'm a du~ke? Why should I listen to the Emperor?
If this were an Eastern empire, the Emperor would have imdiately raised a massive army to sweep away the traitors.
But unfortunately this was the Holy Empire.
"The dukes have no reason to follow my orders."
"..."
Ian was slightly dumbfounded.
What? They need a reason to follow the Emperor's orders?
Fuck. What kind of Emperor was this?
"This isn't a situation that can be resolved with force."
"Then the worst outco will occur."
The Emperor pressed his forehead and said:
"Duke Fargar's maternal family is the Roland royal family."
The Roland Kingdom. A country Ian had heard of.
The country where Belenka's father had served as a knight, and Belenka's original destination.
Unlike the Holy Empire, the Roland Kingdom was a true 'kingdom' that had achieved centralized rule.
The Roland Kingdom's king could wield truly king-like power (if this sounds strange, it's just your imagination).
"If I move troops, Duke Fargar will request aid from the Roland Kingdom."
Ian spoke as if sighing:
"It seems Duke Fargar doesn't mind leaving the empire."
"Sigh... why else would he attack a fellow imperial duke."
Though bitter, it made sense in a way.
Imperial dukes already enjoyed king-like power.
So why? Why stay bound to the empire as an alliance (as they thought of it)?
Of course, if they actually beca independent and established the Kingdom of Fargar, reality might be harsher than imagined.
But didn't people tend to act when drunk on sweet dreams?
...Ian could understand why the Emperor used illness as an excuse to seclude himself.
If he promised to diate with Duke Roxlan, the flas of war might spread uncontrollably.
But to declare cutting ties?
That couldn't be an option for the imperial Emperor.
Like it or not, the Emperor had to protect the empire.
"I keep requesting talks with Duke Fargar."
"Will the Duke agree to talks?"
"I'll have to set acceptable conditions."
Such conditions would naturally involve territory.
For instance... having Duke Roxlan spit out Silverwind's territory that he'd previously swallowed.
The problem was whether Duke Roxlan would accept such conditions.
"What about Duke Roxlan?"
"I'm deliberately buying ti. When Fargar's sword reaches his neck, Roxlan won't be able to hold out."
The Emperor seed to have made up his mind sowhat.
He'd side with Fargar and make Roxlan spit out the Silverwind territory he'd eaten.
That had both legitimacy and fairness.
It would be an ideal choice if only Roxlan would accept it.
Of course, the Duke wouldn't quietly follow the Emperor's will.
Though every choice would lead to trouble-
This was how imperial Emperor's work had always been.
A world where everyone was happy didn't exist.
"Hmm..."
Having heard everything, Ian organized his thoughts briefly.
Then he said to the Emperor:
"Your Majesty. Just perhaps..."
"Speak your mind."
The Emperor was ready to listen to the wizard's wise counsel.
But Ian's words surprised even the Emperor.
"What if it were revealed that [Silverwind's heir] that Fargar presented was fake?"
"...?"
The Emperor asked in confusion:
"Duke Fargar wouldn't have prepared so carelessly? How could you possibly prove that?"
Ian smiled mysteriously.
After all, the Emperor didn't know that Ian had House Silverwind's signet ring...!
Enjoy the chappy!
Please give the book a rating and a review on NovelUpdates.
It helps the website and helps people find this novel!
If you'd like to make a one-ti donation to support our translations or subscribe to read up to 15 chapters or more (depending on the novel) ahead, you can do so via Ko-fi.
Click here!
Reviews
All reviews (0)